It will be all over by Christmas. Andrew Mitchell’s libel hearing against The Sun is scheduled for the first two weeks of December in the High Court. The losing side will be a million pounds worse off after costs alone. Meanwhile the Metropolitan Police are expected, because it is in the public interest as a matter of public confidence in the police, to publish the findings of Operation Alice – the investigation into who passed information to The Sun and The Telegraph newspapers about the “Plebgate” incident, including whether the leak came from within the police force or from a third party.

Operation Alice examined a police witness statement from the incident and investigated if there was a conspiracy between the officer and another party. It also investigated claims made by Mitchell that police lied in the police log of the incident. Mitchell himself is also being sued for defamation by a policeman, a case that will be held in January. All this will be aired at the same time as Mitchell is trying to talk up his prospects of becoming an EU commissioner…